Salvator Rosa

Salvator Rosa painted wild nature: storm-torn trees, jagged cliffs, bandits and soldiers in rocky wilderness. His dark, dramatic landscapes were the opposite of Claude Lorrain’s calm classical scenes, and they later inspired the Romantic idea of the sublime.

Born near Naples, he trained with Francesco Fracanzano and Aniello Falcone, and worked in Rome and Florence. He was also a poet, satirist, actor and printmaker, with a proud, independent character. Beyond landscapes he painted battles, witchcraft scenes and philosophical subjects. Saul and the Witch of Endor is in the Louvre, and Democritus in Meditation is in the National Gallery of Denmark.

Diogenes Casting Away his Cup shows his interest in philosophers and moral stories.